The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to systems and methods for computed tomography (CT) imaging.
In CT imaging, an X-ray source may be rotated around an object of interest (e.g., a patient, organ of a patient) to obtain imaging information. The object of interest is injected with a contrast agent (e.g., radiocontrast agent, an ionic contrast agent, a barium sulfate contrast agent, a blood agent) to provide maximum contrast in the imaging information. During a scan, X-rays emitted from the X-ray source, attenuated by the object of interest, may be collected or detected by a detector and used to reconstruct a medical image. Optionally, the CT imaging may include dual-energy (DE) CT imaging by having the X-rays emitted from the X-ray source switch between two energy level ranges.
Acquisition settings correspond to a plurality of user selections defining various mechanical and/or processing actions to acquire and/or reconstruct the imaging information. The acquisition settings form a scan prescription effecting characteristics of the medical image such as coverage size, spatial resolution, and/or the like. The acquisition settings are interdependent with one another, requiring the user to adjust numerous acquisition settings to adjust a characteristic of the medical image. Due to the interdependencies, users anecdotally develop groupings of acquisition settings focused on providing machine specific adjustments. However, the developed groups do not account for variations in patient anatomies, which result in the user manually adjusting the acquisition settings corresponding to trade-offs in dose and image quality. Thus, there is a need for ensuring reliable diagnostic outcomes with consistent image quality of medical images, across patients, using CT imaging.